Numbering-machine.



M. W. PHILLIPS.

NUMBERING MACHINE.

' APPLIOATION FILED FEB. 12, 191s.

1 ,09 1 ,240, Patented Mar. 24, 1914.

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COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH CO.,WA5H1N c.

MILTON W. rnuiLirs, or lvnw YORK, iv. Y.

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fs pecification of :Letters Patent. Patented 1W 2 4 Application filed.February 1913. sen-awareness.

To all whom itmag concern:

Be it known that I,MILroN W. PHILLIPS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Brooklyn, in the county of Kings, city and State of NewYork, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inNumbering-Machines, of which the following is a clear, full, and exactdescription.

The object of this invention is to improve the construction of numberingmachines, particularly that type of machine where the operator at everyoperation, or at a number of operations, wishes to use the same number,and it consists of means for rapidly and readily moving the printingwheels to the desired position, While the hand of the operatoris'resting on the handle or knob of the machine, sothat the weight ofthe hand will depress the numbering head sufliciently to remove the feltpad from the wheels, and permit the ready operation of the levers by thefingers of the hand, which is resting upon the knob, while the otherhand of the operator is free for handling papers or the like. Thisconstruction of levers for the finger tips within reach of the handle isone which not only gives the advantage above described, but provides forthe removal automatically by the weight of the hand of the ink pad fromthe characters, so that the wheels may move readily, and will not'wearout the pad or become clogged with thefib'ers of the pad.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved means ofsecuring accurate alinement of a machine of this character, so that theuser on moving the segmental lever to approximately the proper positionwill be aided by an automatic alining device to hold the'wheels all inthe same line. This second advantage is secured by placing the samenumber of gear teeth on the pinion which is fastened to each characterwheel, as there are characters or printing spaces including blank spaceson the wheel itself, and providing a detent' toenter the gear teethnotches immediately-that the wheel changes from one number-to another,to aid in seating such wheel-in proper alinement. 1

The scope of my invention will be ed out in the claims. I

In the accompanying drawings: Figure l is a perspective view of myimprovedinvention with a part of the human hand pointshown in Fig-2isa'plan view of my'improved inachine.

position for operating-the device.

Fig; 3 is a sectional front view on l ne 3-3 on Fig.- 4. Fig; 4 is asectional. side elevation on line 4% Fig. 3.

i As shown in the drawings, 1 is the usual operating knob or handlesecured to a numbering head 2, which head and handle reciprocate in aframe 3, at the bottom of which there is provided a gage plate 4. In

the numbering head 2 there is mounted a shaft 5 carrying characterwheels 6, there being provided plnions 7 secured thereto.

' Each pinion is provided with the same number of gearteeth as there areprlntlng characters or printing spaces on the number wheel; for examplethe wheels shown are adapted to' print -O987651321 and are alsoprovidedjwith a blank space; therefore the gear wheel will carry twelveteeth, and between eachpair of teeth is the detentS having a roundednose to fit between the I teeth." It is pivoted to the numbering head atQ'andis'held firmly against the number-- ing wheel by a detent combspring 10, having one prong engaging each of thedetents. The comb'springis attached to a plate 11 secured across the numbering head to inclosethe back thereof. -The ink pad 12 is secured in-a carrier 13 pivoted at14t'o the frame, and secured by a link 15 to the shaft 5 of thenumbering'head, so that upon the first'slight depression of the handle 1and the numbering head the ink pad will be moved out of contact with thenumbering wheels. Secured'to the numbering head on a shaft 14 are anumber or gear segments 15 each having an upwardly extending lever arm16 extending through a slot 17 in anindex plate 18, and carrying adished out finger rest 17 having straight sides, so that the ball of thefinger will 'fit nicely in the cup to move the same without beingconfined sidewise to prevent the operation of a wrong key. a p

Immediately beneath the finger piece 17 a is an index frame 18 adaptedto surround that character which is about to be printed by the 'machineafter selection, as will be seen on examination of Fig. 1." It will beseen that the index block 18 is carried by the lever on that side awayfrom the handle so that the character inclosed by it will not beobscured by the operators hand or fingers. The index plate 18 is carriedon the upper part of a housing 19, which is secured to the numberinghead, and rises and falls with it, and incloses the mechanism of thelever and segment. The levers, when in blank position extend parallelwith theoperating rod of the operating handle 1, so that they will bereadily accessible to the fingers of a hand pressing upon the knob orhandle, to remove the ink pad and allow the ready movement of the leversto the desired position as indicated in Fig. 1 by the operation of onehand alone, thus avoiding undue wear of the pad, gumming of thecharacters, life of machine, and readiness of operation for the leverswhich would operate very hard if they had to be pushed across the inkpad in contact therewith on every change.

It will be seen that the segment is so mounted on its shaft 14: withrelation to the shaft 5 of the numbering wheels that it will be causedwhen swung to move across the vertical center line of said shaft,swinging at all times more under the operating knob than shown in Fig.4. Due to this location of the two shafts in the reciprocating frame, Iam enabled not only to secure a machine of perfect balance for the kindof work required of a numbering machine today, i. 6., a portable machineas distinguished from the platform or stationary machine, but I am alsoenabled to get a construction which will at all times place theoperating keys within reach of the normal hand resting on the operatingknob. It will be noted that a clearance space is provided above thenumber wheel shaft to permit the swinging of the segment between theframe and shaft, so that the pivot point of' the segment may be locatedclose to the frame and thus make it possible that the levers will alwaysbe within reach of the hand of the operator when in place upon the knobor handle.

In carrying out this invention, details of construction may be variedfrom those shown, and yet the essence of the invention be retained; someparts might be employed without others, and new features thereof mightbe combined with elements old in the art in diverse ways, although theherein described type is regarded as embodying substantial improvementsover such modifications.

As many changes could be made in the above construction, and manyapparently widely different embodiments of the inven tion could be madewithout departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all mattercontained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawingsshall be interpreted in an illustrative and not in a limiting sense. Itis furthermore desired to be understood that the language used in thefollowing claims is intended to cover all the generic and specificfeatures of the invention herein described, and all statements of thescope of the invention which as a matter of language might be said tofall therebetween.

I claim as my invention:

1. The herein described numbering machine consisting of a gage plate andframe, a reciprocating handle therein, a numbering head carried by thehandle, numbering wheels carried by the head, and inking means, a gearwheel secured to and turning with each numbering wheel, a gear segmentengaging a gear wheel and adapted to be swung over and across thevertical center of said numbering wheels, a shaft for the segment, anextending lever for the segment, an index plate with slots and indexcharacters adjacent said slots, a finger grip for the said lever on theoutside of the index plate, said index plate, segment and levertraveling with the numbering head.

2. The herein described numbering machine consisting of a gage plate andframe, a reciprocating handle therein, a numbering head carried by thehandle, numbering wheels carried by the head, and inking means, a gearwheel secured to and turning with each numbering wheel, a gear segmentengaging a gear wheel and adapted to be swung over and across thevertical center of said numbering wheels, a shaft for the segment, anextending lever for the segment, an index plate with slots and indexcharacters adjacent said slots, a finger grip for the said lever on theoutside of the index plate, said index plate, segment and levertraveling with the numbering head, said finger pieces of the leverhaving straight sides and a curved finger grip surface.

3. The herein described numbering machine consisting of a gage plate andframe, a reciprocating handle therein, a numbering head carried by thehandle, numbering wheels carried by the head, and inking means, a gearwheel secured to and turning with each numbering wheel, a gear segmentengaging a gear wheel and adapted to be swung over and across thevertical center of said numbering wheel, a shaft for the segment, anextending lever for the segment, an index plate with slots and indexcharacters adjacent said slots, a finger grip for the said lever on theoutside of the index plate, said index plate, segment and levertraveling with the numbering head, an index block scoured to the leversinclosing the index characters one at a time, as the lever is moved.

4. The herein described numbering machine consisting of a gage plate andframe, a reciprocating handle therein, a numbering head carried by thehandle, numbering wheels carried by the head, and inking means, a gearwheel secured to and turning with each numbering wheel, a gear segmentengaging a gear wheel and adapted to be swung over and across thevertical center of said numbering wheels, a shaft for the segment, anextending lever for the segment, an index plate with slots and indexcharacters adjacent said slots, a finger grip for the said lever on theoutside of the index plate, said index plate, segment and levertraveling with the numbering head, an alining detent resiliently heldagainst each gear wheel.

5. The herein described numbering machine consisting of a gage plate andframe, a reciprocating handle therein, a numbering head carried by thehandle, numbering wheels carried by the head, and inking means, a gearwheel secured to and turning with each numbering Wheel, a gear segmentengaging a gear Wheel, a shaft for the segment, an extending lever forthe segment, an index plate with slots and index characters adjacentsaid slots, a finger grip for the said lever on the outside of the indexplate, said index plate, segment and lever traveling with the numberinghead, the index plate beginning at a point above the frame adjacent tothe operating handle, and curving outwardly therefrom, so that thelevers will always be within reaching position of the fingers of a handwhich is impressed upon the handle, in combination with operating meansfor the ink pad, adapted to move the same upon the depression of thenumbering head, whereby the weight of the hand upon the handle whenshifting the levers will serve to lift the ink pad from the wheels.

6. The herein described numbering machine consisting of a frame, areciprocating plunger therein, an operating handle for the plunger, anumber wheel carried by the plunger head, a shaft therefor, a gear forthe number wheel, a clearance space im-.

mediately above the number wheel shaft in the plunger head, a segmentcarried by the plunger head and adapted to enter the space above thegear wheels upon its reciprocation, a lever for reciprocating saidsegment, said segment and lever carried by the plunger head.

7. The herein described numbering machine consisting of a frame, areciprocating plunger therein, an operating handle for the plunger, anumber wheel carried by the plunger head, a shaft therefor, a gear forthe number Wheel, a clearance space immediately above the number wheelshaft in the plunger head, a segment carried by the plunger head andadapted to enter the space above the gear wheels upon its reciprocation,a lever for reciprocating said segment, said segment and lever carriedby the plunger head, said shaft for the segment being mounted close, tothe stationary frame of the machine, whereby the lever when in verticalposition will occupy a position closely adjacent to the handle.

8. The herein described numbering machine consisting of a frame, areciprocating plunger therein, an operating knob for the plunger, anumber wheel carried by the plunger head, a. shaft therefor, a gear forthe number wheel, a clearance space immediately above the number wheelshaft in the plunger head, a segment carried by the plunger head andadapted to enter the space above the gear wheels upon its reciprocation,a lever for operating said segment, said segment and lever carried bythe plunger head, the segment adapted to be reciprocated so as to passover the vertical center line of the number shaft.

9. In a numbering machine, having a frame, a reciprocating plunger head,an operating knob, a shaft, number wheels on said shaft, a gear andgeared segment operating said number wheel, an index plate havingcharacters along its slots, an operating lever projecting through saidslots, and carrying an index block in advance of the lever, that is, onthe side of the lever away from the handle, whereby, when the hand is onthe operating knob and the finger on the lever, the block will lieadjacent an index character in advance of the lever itself.

Signed at New York city, 6th day of February, 1913.

MILTON W. PHILLIPS. Witnesses:

FRED FRANCIS WEISS, F. WARREN WRIGHT.

New York, this Copies of this patent may be obtained for five centseach, by addressing the Commissioner of Fatents,

Washington, D. G.

